'Tantrix Discovery' printed from http://nrich.maths.org/

Tantrix Discovery

[Copyright Tantrix Games International. Reproduced with permission from Tantrix].

Here is a set of puzzles which call for lots of mathematical thinking if you are going to be any good at solving them. The pieces are very nice to handle and we can recommend you buy a set but you can also print and cut out the pieces above. This puzzle is manufactured by TANTRIX and you can order a set from the TANTRIX website.

You can also solve the puzzles interactively or play the TANTRIX game on their website.

The TANTRIX game and tiles were only invented ten years ago and the Discovery Puzzle itself was invented as recently as 1999. We are grateful to TANTRIX for allowing us to publish this version.

Can you make the following patterns:

1. Make a yellow loop or circle with tiles 1,2 and 3.

2. Now break up the tiles and make a new loop with tiles 1,2,3 and 4. Loops can be any shape but the ends must join.

3. Add tile 5, and make a new loop with tiles 1 to 5.

4. Continue as above up to all ten tiles. All other touching links must match up in colour too.

5. Up to 9 tiles there is only one colour from which you can make a loop from each set.